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Four aqueous extracts of different plant organs are the following: Artemisia herba-alba, Opuntia ficus-indica, Camellia sinensis and Phlomis crinita were evaluated against two bacterial strains: Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia, which are implicated in periodontal diseases. By using a disc method, these plant extracts demonstrated powerful bacterial activity against these Gram-negative strains. The minimum inhibitory concentration values of the four plant extracts varied between 0.03 and 590.82 mg/ml for the microbes. Another assay using commercial antibiotics and antibacterials as positive controls was also conducted. Values obtained after statistical analysis of inhibition diameters of all plant extracts demonstrated that for P. gingivalis, the aqueous extracts of A. herba-alba and O. ficus-indica were most effective, followed by those of C. sinensis and P. crinita. For P. intermedia, aqueous extracts of O. ficus-indica and C. sinensis appeared to be more efficient with significantly different (P > 0.05) inhibition diameters, followed by those of O. ficus-indica and P. crinita. In summary, the statistical results reveal that these plant extracts exert stronger antibacterial activity on P. intermedia germ as compared to P. gingivalis.

After cellulose, chitin is the most widespread biopolymer in nature. Chitin and its derivatives have great economic value because of their biological activities and their industrial and biomedical applications. It can be extracted from three sources, namely crustaceans, insects and microorganisms. However, the main commercial sources of chitin are shells of crustaceans such as shrimps, crabs, lobsters and krill that are supplied in large quantities by the shellfish processing industries. Extraction of chitin involves two steps, demineralisation and deproteinisation, which can be conducted by two methods, chemical or biological. The chemical method requires the use of acids and bases, while the biological method involves microorganisms. Although lactic acid bacteria are mainly applied, other microbial species including proteolytic bacteria have also been successfully implemented, as well as mixed cultures involving lactic acid-producing bacteria and proteolytic microorganisms. The produced lactic acid allows shell demineralisation, since lactic acid reacts with calcium carbonate, the main mineral component, to form calcium lactate., Hitin je, nakon celuloze, najrasprostranjeniji biopolimer u prirodi. Hitin i njegovi derivati imaju veliku ekonomsku vrijednost zbog njihove biološke aktivnosti te moguće primjene u industriji i biomedicini. Može se ekstrahirati iz tri izvora, i to iz rakova, insekata i mikroorganizama. No, glavni komercijalni izvor hitina su oklopi rakova, kao što su škampi, rakovice, jastozi i zooplanktonski (krill) račići, koji u velikim količinama preostaju nakon prerade rakova. Ekstrakcija se hitina odvija u dva koraka: demineralizacija i deproteinizacija, a može se provesti kemijskim ili biološkim putem. Kemijska metoda podrazumijeva uporabu kiselina ili baza, a biološka uključuje primjenu mikroorganizama. Iako se najčešće primjenjuju mliječno-kisele bakterije, dosad su uspješno upotrijebljene i proteolitičke bakterije, te mješovite kulture mliječno-kiselih bakterija i proteolitičkih mikroorganizama. Nastala mliječna kiselina omogućuje daljnju demineralizaciju, jer reagira s kalcijevim karbonatom, glavnim mineralnim sastojkom oklopa, pri čemu nastaje kalcijev laktat.